High-speed rail in the United Kingdom


High-speed rail in the United Kingdom is provided on four upgraded railway lines running at top speeds of and one purpose-built high-speed line reaching.
Since 2019 construction has been ongoing on a major new purpose-built high-speed rail line, High Speed 2 which will link London with major cities in the North and the Midlands at and reduce journey times to Scotland. Phase 1 of the project to Birmingham is due to open in 2026, with the line set to go as far as Manchester and Leeds by 2033.
Government-backed plans to provide east-west high-speed services between cities in the North of England are also in their early stages of development, as part of the Northern Powerhouse Rail project.
Trains currently travel at 125 mph on the East Coast Main Line, Great Western main line, Midland Main Line, parts of the Cross Country Route, and the West Coast Main Line. On the latter line, only tilting trains can reach this maximum speed due to the difficult track geometry.
The 67-mile long HS1 line connects London to the Channel Tunnel, with international Eurostar services running from London St Pancras station to cities in France, Belgium, and the Netherlands at 186 mph. That line is also used by high-speed commuter services from Kent to the capital, operating at top speeds of 140 mph.
There has been no single national rail operator in the UK since British Rail was privatised in the 1990s. High-speed services are provided by CrossCountry, East Midlands Railway, Eurostar, Grand Central, Great Western Railway, Hull Trains, London North Eastern Railway, Southeastern, Avanti West Coast, Abellio ScotRail, and TransPennine Express.

History

High-speed steam

During the age of steam locomotion, the British railway industry strove to develop reliable technology for powering high-speed rail services between major cities.
The earliest attempt to build a railway line dedicated for operation at the higher speeds was the Great Central Main Line, opened by the Great Central Railway in 1899. This line was an ambitious project led by railway entrepreneur Sir Edward Watkin who envisaged a Liverpool-Paris route crossing from Britain to France via a proposed channel tunnel. Although the tunnel scheme was not realised by this railway company, the route operated services between and via, with the dedicated express track beginning at in Nottinghamshire. The line was built to certain specifications so that it could take advantage of the higher speeds offered by the advances in steam locomotion. For most of the line the ruling gradient did not exceed 1 in 176 ; outside urban areas wide curves were employed with a minimum radius of 1 mile; the route only had one level crossing; and, unlike other railway lines in Britain, the Great Central Main Line was built to an expanded continental loading gauge which meant it could accommodate larger-sized continental trains. The GCR's target market was higher-class 'business' travellers, and it promoted its long-distance express trains with the slogan "Rapid Travel in Luxury". Most of the Great Central Main Line closed in 1966 as part of the Beeching cuts, although parts of the route are still in use today by Chiltern Railways as the London to Aylesbury Line. According to plans announced in 2010, part of the proposed High Speed 2 route will run along a re-opened section of the GCR route between and. An alternative proposal to re-open the GCR for freight has been put forward by the Central Railway company.
Various claims exist for the first locomotive to break the barrier, notably the Great Western Railway's City of Truro and the LNER's Flying Scotsman. Locomotive power capable of reaching has existed in Britain since 1938, when the LNER's Mallard broke the steam locomotive speed record.
Despite advances in locomotive engineering, the railway infrastructure was unable to support safe running at such high speeds and, until the mid-1970s, the British railway speed limit remained at.

The APT

In the 1970s, British Rail began to explore new technologies for enabling high-speed passenger rail services in the UK. While the Japanese and French railway authorities had decided to build completely new tracks for their respective Shinkansen and TGV high-speed rail systems, British Rail opted instead to develop a train capable of running on existing rail infrastructure: the Advanced Passenger Train , with a top speed of. An experimental version, the APT-E was tested between 1972 and 1976. It was equipped with a tilting mechanism which allowed the train to tilt into bends to reduce cornering forces on passengers, and was powered by gas turbines. The 1970s oil crisis prompted a rethink in the choice of motive power, and British Rail later opted for traditional electric overhead lines when the pre-production and production APTs were brought into service in 1980-86.
Initial experience with the Advanced Passenger Trains was good. They had a high power-to-weight ratio to enable rapid acceleration; the prototype set record speeds on the Great Western Main Line and the Midland Main Line, and the production versions vastly reduced journey times on the WCML. The APT was, however, beset with technical problems; financial constraints and negative media coverage eventually caused the project to be cancelled.

InterCity 125

During the same period, British Rail also invested in a separate, parallel project to design a train based on conventional technology as a stopgap. The InterCity 125, otherwise known as the High-Speed Train, was launched in 1976 with a service speed of and provided the first high-speed rail services in Britain. The HST was diesel-powered, and the Great Western Main Line was the first to be modified for the new service. Because the GWML had been built mostly straight, often with four tracks and with a distance of 1 mile between distant signal and main signal, it allowed trains to run at with relatively moderate infrastructure investments, compared to other countries in Europe. The Intercity 125 had proven the economic case for high-speed rail, and British Rail was keen to explore further advances.

InterCity 225

BR then proceeded to electrify the ECML and ordered a new fleet of InterCity 225 electric trains in the mid-1980s. These were capable of and although not initially equipped to tilt, were designed to be easily upgraded to tilt mode by having trailer profiles that tapered inwards at the top and suitable bogies. Speeds of were tested on the southern, straighter sections of the ECML by using a flashing green aspect on the signals. This indicated it was safe to proceed above, but HMRSI eventually ruled that this was dangerous and that speeds above 125 mph would require in-cab signalling. The 225s were therefore limited to and have been ever since.

High-speed DMUs

In the early 2000s, a number of train operating companies introduced diesel multiple units capable of 125 mph speeds, including the Adelante, Voyager, Super-Voyager and Meridian/Pioneer units.

Pendolino

In 2002, Virgin Trains introduced a new high-speed service on the West Coast Main Line with a fleet of 53 custom-designed Pendolino trains. The nine-car trains were constructed by Alstom and are equipped with a tilting mechanism developed by Fiat to enable them to run at high speeds on existing rail infrastructure, thus fulfilling the aims of the APT project some 30 years later.
The Pendolinos were designed to run at, but require in-cab signalling for high-speed operation. The 2004 West Coast Main Line modernisation programme, which was an upgrade to the infrastructure to allow faster line speeds,
ran over budget, and plans were consequently scaled back. As with the introduction of the InterCity 225 in the 1980s, the lack of signalling upgrades resulted in the maximum line speed being restricted to. Some members of the fleet were later lengthened to 11 carriages.
The following table lists the speeds of the fastest trains operating in Great Britain in 2020 which are capable of a top speed of 125 mph or greater:
NameLocomotive ClassTypeMax. Recorded Speed Max. Design Speed Max. Speed in UK service
Eurostar e320Class 374EMU219 199 186
EurostarClass 373EMU209 186 186
JavelinClass 395EMU157 140 140
Nova 2Class 397EMUnone set125 125
Intercity Express Train Azuma Class 800BMMUnone set140 125
AzumaClass 801EMUnone set140 125
Intercity Express Train Nova 1 Paragon Class 802BMMUnone set140 125
InterCity 225Class 91Electric Loco162 140 125
PendolinoClass 390EMU162 140 125
InterCity 125Class 43 Diesel Loco148 125 125
AdelanteClass 180DMU125 125 125
VoyagerClass 220DEMU125 125 125
Super VoyagerClass 221DEMU125 125 125
Meridian/PioneerClass 222DEMU125 125 125

High Speed 1 (HS1)

The Channel Tunnel Rail Link, now known as High Speed 1, was the first new mainline railway to be built in the UK for a century and was constructed by London and Continental Railways. After a lengthy process of route selection and public enquiries in the second half of the 1990s, work got under way on Section 1 from the Channel Tunnel to west of the Medway in 1998 and the line opened in 2003. Section 2, continuing the line to London St Pancras, started soon after Section 1 and was opened to the public on 14 November 2007.
The HS1 line was finished on time and under budget. The reduction in journey times and increase in reliability achieved through the opening of Section 1 enabled Eurostar to capture 71% of the total London–Paris market and over 80% of the leisure market and Section 2 has increased these figures further. Additionally, the connections provided to the WCML, MML and ECML by Section 2 may see growth of hitherto marginal markets, by finally allowing Regional Eurostars to operate, at least on the electrified ECML and WCML.
Market share statistics of Eurostar on London–Paris :
The completion and successful operation of HS1 Sections 1 and 2 spurred much discussion and several proposals for new lines in the UK and many interested parties are hoping to capitalise on the momentum given to these ideas by the completion of the complete HS1. These proposals are discussed below.
The construction of HS1 also permitted the introduction of a new domestic high-speed service when in 2009 Southeastern launched its high-speed route between and. Operated with a fleet of British Rail Class 395 trains, the service reaches a top speed of. Southeastern High-Speed is currently the only British domestic high-speed service allowed to run above.

New high-speed line proposals

In 2001, two privately sponsored proposals were put forward to build high-speed lines in the UK. The first, from Virgin Rail Group, was part of its tender for the InterCity East Coast franchise. The second, from FirstGroup, was independent of the Department for Transport / Strategic Rail Authority rail franchising process. Neither was welcomed by the government, which in the wake of the Hatfield rail crash was focused on - as it saw it - getting the rail network back to reliable operations.

Virgin Trains' ECML bid

When the InterCity East Coast franchise came up for its first renewal, Virgin Rail Group raised the idea in 2000 of constructing new track and purchasing a new fleet of trains for the line. These so-called VGVs would have been capable of and would have used a mixture of new track and existing track. The new track would be from Peterborough to Yorkshire and on from Newcastle to the Scottish border. This first line would have opened in 2009 and was chosen for ease of construction in the south and elimination of severe curves in Northumberland. Later, if successful, further stretches would have been upgraded. Publicity material featuring Virgin branded TGV and ICE trains appeared, and it was stated that the stock would be built in Birmingham. Virgin's bid was rejected, and GNER's franchise was renewed.

FirstGroup's plans for the GWML corridor

Around the same time, First Great Western, operator of lines west of London, announced a study into a line from London to South West England and South Wales. First sponsored the study and input was given by other stakeholders in the regions to be served.
Journey times from London given included:
Although First stated that this report would be published and given to the SRA and government, little has been heard of the plan since the initial press release. In 2010 Cardiff city council again lobbied central government for a high-speed rail line to London via Bristol, then estimated to contribute £2.2 billion to the Welsh economy. The Department for Transport responded to this bid by stating that "the Government's vision is of a truly national high-speed rail network for the whole of Britain. However, given financial constraints, we will have to achieve this in phases. Ministers are currently considering HS2 Ltd's proposals in respect of the potential first phase of such a network. We are aware of the proposals for a high speed line to Wales and these will feed into our thinking as we seek to develop a wider high speed rail network."

Government-commissioned studies

Since the completion of Section 1 of the HS1, government departments and ministers have commissioned reports into the viability of high-speed rail. This is in part due to the success of the HS1 project, part due to realisation that upgrades to existing infrastructure offer poor value for money and cannot hope to meet future capacity needs, and part due to increasing environmental concerns over the expansion of the short-haul airline industry.

Atkins study

In 2001, the SRA commissioned Atkins to perform a feasibility study into the transport and business case for high-speed rail. The study, published on 29 October 2004, looked at combinations of 11 routing options to accommodate forecast traffic flows and concluded:
Furthermore, additional work was done to look at the impact of road pricing, downgrading the enhancements to the ECML, and changes to the Treasury's green book method of assessing project finance. All three areas were found to improve the case for high-speed rail.

;Atkins Option 1
The Atkins study proposed a line between London and Stoke-on-Trent, broadly following the existing WCML and using the WCML for onward connection, as its baseline scenario.
;Atkins Option 8
The study concluded that new lines should be built each side of the Pennines, with the eastern line continuing to Edinburgh and Glasgow. A branch also serves Heathrow Airport. This is the £33bn "end game" scenario.
;Atkins Option 10
The study considered a link between Manchester and Leeds but did not take this forward.

Commission for Integrated Transport

In 2004 the Commission for Integrated Transport commissioned Steer Davies Gleave to produce a report on high-speed rail. The report focused on the reasons why the costs being quoted for British HSR routes were high in comparison to other countries, in addition to investigating the business case and transport case for such a network.
The routes studied gave hypothetical journey times from and to London as follows:
DestinationCurrent Journey TimeHS2 Journey Time
Birmingham1h 10m0h 55m
Manchester2h 08m1h 06m
Leeds2h 05m1h 25m
Liverpool2h 08m1h 15m
Newcastle2h 50m1h 40m
Edinburgh4h 05m2h 06m
Glasgow4h 20m2h 32m

The study gave the following recommendations:
In 2006 British Airways' former chief executive Sir Rod Eddington produced a report on future transport strategy.
The report covered all transport modes and had initially been expected to strongly recommend investment in high-speed rail. However, on 29 August 2006 The Times reported that Sir Rod would state that given a limited transport budget, a high-speed rail link is not the most cost-effective option to obtain higher capacity on the rail network and therefore should not be built. Most of the press continued to take this line when the report was finally published, drawing scorn from both opposition parties, Labour back-benchers and transport pressure groups alike. The report seemed to confirm this:

However, Sir Rod later claimed both to the press and to a parliamentary select committee that he was quoted out of context in reports at the time, had aimed his comments specifically at speculative MagLev options, and in fact was in favour of using conventional high-speed rail to relieve congestion once existing main lines reached capacity. Nevertheless, enthusiasm for such projects seemed to wane after the report's publication, at least in Westminster. The topic remained much on the political agenda in the North East of England and Scotland.

Greengauge 21 study

Government White Paper: Delivering a Sustainable Railway

In July 2007, the new Transport Secretary, Ruth Kelly, delivered a white paper on the future of the railways. The report outlined the government's strategic plan for the railways until 2037 which recommended "further study" and stated that dedicated magnetic levitation system and freight lines were "too expensive". Amongst the support documentation for the white paper was a report by transport professors Roderick Smith and Roger Kemp which reviewed the options for a MagLev trunk line, particularly those proposed by UK Ultraspeed, and concluded that it was a high-risk option, with a high impact on transport energy use and therefore carbon dioxide emissions.

Second Atkins study

In March 2008, The Observer and The Sunday Times both reported that a second report for the Department of Transport by Atkins entitled Because Transport Matters showed that the original Option 8 would give a benefit of £63bn, well in excess of the predicted costs of £31bn. The report suggested building two lines on the East and West coasts. The West coast line would run to Manchester, and the East coast line would run to Edinburgh and Glasgow. Travel times of 71 minutes to Manchester and 74 minutes to Sheffield were mentioned in the report.

High Speed 2

is a proposed high-speed railway in the United Kingdom serving London, Birmingham, Sheffield and Leeds, or alternatively London, Manchester, Liverpool, Preston, Glasgow and Edinburgh but not Sheffield. The UK Government launched a formal high-speed rail project in January 2009, and high-speed rail has the support of all three main political parties. The UK Government has now approved construction, due to begin in 2017, with the first trains running by 2025. Subject to consultation, the London terminus for the high-speed line would be Euston, a new Birmingham city-centre station would be built at Curzon Street, and there would be interchange stations with Crossrail west of Paddington and with the existing intercity rail network near Birmingham airport. The only other high-speed route in the UK is High Speed 1.
HS2's proposal is for a Y-shaped network between London and England's major regional cities, serving Manchester, Birmingham, Leeds, East Midlands and Newcastle, with connections on to the West Coast and East Coast main lines to allow through services to Scotland. The Greengauge 21 study states that the total route length, including the connections to the existing network and High Speed One, would be.

Network Rail study

Beyond HS2 Report

In May 2018, Greengauge 21 released a report entitled ‘Beyond HS2’ which looked at how the rail network could develop by 2050. It proposed several projects:
In June 2014, the then Chancellor of the Exchequer, George Osborne proposed a high speed rail link High Speed 3 between Liverpool and Newcastle/Sheffield/Hull. The line would utilise the existing route between Liverpool and Newcastle/Hull, and a new route from to Sheffield will follow the same route to Manchester Victoria, and then a new line from Victoria to Sheffield, with additional tunnels and other infrastructure.
Osborne suggested the line should be considered as part of a review of the second phase of High Speed 2. Initial estimates suggested a rail line with a line speed, and Leeds-Manchester journey times reduced to 30 minutes, Osborne estimated the cost to be less per mile than that of HS2, giving a cost of under £6 billion. Initial responses to the proposal were mixed: Jeremy Acklam of the Institution of Engineering and Technology suggested that plans should look at connecting other northern cities; such as Liverpool, and potentially north-east England via York; commentators noted that the proposal could be viewed as an attempt to gain political support in the north of England in the run-up to the 2015 general election: The Institute of Economic Affairs characterised the proposal as a "headline grabbing vanity project designed to attract votes". However the British Chambers of Commerce, Confederation of British Industry, and others were cautiously positive about the proposal, but emphasised the need to deliver on existing smaller-scale schemes.

Heathrow Airport to Gatwick Airport

In 2011, the Department for Transport confirmed that ministers were studying a proposal for a 180 mph line between London Heathrow and Gatwick Airports. The journey would take 15 minutes and provide the first direct rail link between the two airports. The plan could virtually make Heathrow and Gatwick into a single hub. In 2018 a proposal was put forward by a British engineering consultancy, Expedition Engineering, for HS4Air, a high-speed railway line that would run to the south of Greater London, creating a 140 km link between HS2 and HS1 via Heathrow and Gatwick Airports.

High speed trains

Before the year 2000, there had been three types of high speed trains in Britain:
Since 2000, trains that could be classed as high speed trains include:
A lot of money and resources were put into fundamental research into vehicle dynamics which, among other advances, led to the development of the APT. The APT achieved high speeds around curves by tilting. Although the prototype was deemed successful and production units were built, they never entered regular service.
By this time, development was underway of another train design which became the InterCity 125.
The InterCity 125 was planned as a stop-gap. Research had begun for the tilting APT but it was uncertain when it could enter service. The HST applied what had been learned so far to traditional technology - a project parallel to the APT but based on conventional principles while incorporating the newly discovered knowledge of wheel/rail interaction and suspension design. The APT never achieved all its design objectives but the InterCity 125 was a success.
The InterCity 125 was introduced by British Rail between 1976 and 1982, when the maximum speed had previously been 100 mph. The increased top speed and its acceleration and deceleration allowed for shortened journey times. The prototype class 252 took the world record for diesel traction, achieving 143.2 mph on 12 June 1973 on the East Coast Main Line between Northallerton and Thirsk. On 1 November 1987 the record was raised to 148.4 mph by a shortened class 254 set running speed trials between Darlington and York. On 27 September 1985 a shortened class 254 set carrying passengers ran non-stop from Newcastle to London King's Cross, averaging 115.4 mph. HSTs were originally identified as Class 253 used on the GWML and Class 254 used on the ECML.
The InterCity 125 is used on numerous intercity services today while the tilting trains it was supposed to complement and ultimately be replaced by only began to appear on British railways in the early 2000s.
However, the aim for the Advanced Passenger Train was to achieve 155 mph running. Although this was achieved during trials, it was not possible in normal service in the UK due to the shortness of British signal spacing, apart from the dedicated CTRL.
The earliest replacement of InterCity 125s started with the introduction of the InterCity 225, between 1988 and 1991 in conjunction with electrification of the East Coast Main Line.
More recently, some InterCity 125s have been replaced or supplemented by:

Future trains

The InterCity 125 is still in widespread use. First Great Western planned to supplement its InterCity 125s with 14 Class 180 Adelante trains, which can travel at the same speed. Because every carriage has an underfloor engine, they can accelerate approximately twice as quickly, which reduces journey times and allows for more frequent services. However, in-car noise levels are higher than in the InterCity 125 because of the underfloor engines, which, combined with less-comfortable seats and harsh interior lighting, has made them unpopular with passengers. They also proved to be unreliable, leading to a significant overhaul programme in 2004 to fix the major problems. These issues ultimately led to the units being withdrawn from First Great Western services and transferred to open access operators Grand Central and Hull Trains.
In 2004, First Great Western announced a major overhaul upgrade for its Class 43 locomotives, including a new MTU engine. Two power cars with the new engine were successfully trialled. In 2005, it undertook a of a pair of InterCity 125 coaches to bring them up to modern standards. Another coach has been refurbished with experimental aircraft-style seat-back screens. As part of its franchise commitments First Great Western announced that it will refurbish the entire fleet and re-engine all power cars with the MTU engine
In January 2006 the first batch of power cars were taken to Brush Traction to have MTU engines installed. This work has now been completed.
Twenty-six of First Great Western's InterCity 125 fleet have been refurbished into a high-density layout of mostly airline seats for services in the M4 corridor to Bristol and Cardiff. To improve acceleration on this route, where most stations are 20–25 minutes apart, the buffet cars will be removed. The remainder will be refurbished with new seating and at-seat power-points, and retain the buffet for the long-distance services to Swansea and the West Country.
Midland Mainline supplemented its fleet with Class 222 Meridian units, replacing the slower Class 170 Turbostar units. The franchise has since been reorganised and transferred to East Midlands Trains.
London North Eastern Railway operate InterCity 125 sets between London King's Cross and the North of Scotland. The previous franchise holder, GNER gave the coaches an extensive interior refurbishment upon its taking over of the sets in 1996. GNER also began to have their InterCity 125 sets a further refit to bring them to the same Mallard standard as their recently refurbished InterCity 225 fleet, a programme that has been continued by National Express.
The Great Western power cars have had major modifications to their cooling system to prevent overheating on hot days. GNER's solution to the overheating problem was to haul sets under the wires using Class 91 electric Locomotives.
A full-scale replacement programme known as the Intercity Express Programme is currently in the planning stages. This is a development of earlier plans to replace them, known as HST2.

HSR promoters

The recent interest in high-speed rail generated by the success of the CTRL has led to the formation of several companies and non-profit groups aiming to further the construction of domestic high-speed lines in Britain. The principal groups are:

Greengauge 21

is a non-profit group aiming to establish conventional high-speed wheel-on-rail technology as the mode of choice for new lines. The group has performed studies on routeing, environmental issues and the use of high-speed rail as an alternative to short-haul airlines.
Currently it is proposing a new high-speed line between, at first, London and Birmingham. This is tentatively called High Speed Two.

Eleven cities campaign

Eleven big cities announced a joint campaign for a high-speed rail network serving the entire of Great Britain on 9 September 2009. Birmingham, Bristol, Cardiff, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Leeds, Liverpool, Manchester, Newcastle, Nottingham and Sheffield stated as their goal that The campaign will be deliberately focused on the importance of building a whole network to link all our major economic centres together, not simply a sterile debate about where a first route should go.

High Speed UK

Two railway engineers have proposed an alternative network to HS2, which they claim would provide higher connectivity and 25% lower cost than HS2.


Other developments

Intercity Express Programme (IEP)

On 8 March 2007, the Department for Transport invited bidders to participate in the Intercity Express Programme or IEP. This is a project to replace the ageing InterCity 125 and subsequently InterCity 225 fleets with a new high-speed train designed to operate on the ECML, GWML and Cross Country routes. The project grew out of discussions between FirstGroup and Siemens in the early years of the decade, later being taken over by the SRA and DfT.
On 12 February 2009, the DfT announced that Agility Trains, a consortium led by Hitachi, was the preferred bidder, with a train named the Hitachi Super Express. In February 2010 it was announced the programme was suspended pending an independent report, with a decision on its viability to be given after the 2010 General Election.

Liberal Democrats plans for British high-speed rail network

On 2 August 2007, the BBC reported that the Liberal Democrats proposed the building of a high-speed rail network in Great Britain, connecting London with Birmingham, Leeds, Manchester, Tyneside and Scotland in the north and Bristol, Cardiff and Exeter in the west. Funding for the investment would come from an extra £10 tax per ticket on internal flights in Britain and tolls on road freight, mirroring similar toll schemes in Germany, Austria, Switzerland and the Czech Republic.
On 22 August 2007, a Scottish Liberal Democrat MSP tabled a motion to the Scottish Parliament calling for a high-speed rail link between Edinburgh, Glasgow and London.

Conservatives plans to force short-haul passengers on to high-speed rail

On 28 August 2007, The Times reported that the Conservative Party has found that 20% of all flights from Heathrow are to destinations that can be - or soon will be able to be - reached in a competitive time by high-speed rail. They plan to impose a moratorium on airport expansion and force this traffic on to the railways, freeing up slots for long-haul flights and removing the need for a third runway at Heathrow and a second runway at Stansted.

Arup publishes plan for HS2

On 2 December 2007, The Sunday Times reported that engineering group Arup, a member of the consortium behind High Speed One, was to put forward a plan for a second British high-speed line to the North of England and Lowland Scotland via Heathrow Airport. This would enable direct transfers between flights and trains to Continental Europe and British regions. The plan, closely resembling that of Greengauge21, was to be formally announced later in week commencing 3 December 2007.

Accidents and incidents